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Buildings are highly visible, and they last a long time. They are very important to a society, symbolic of the way it sees itself. Green buildings can help motivate our societies to tackle more difficult issues. They are part of the solution to major environmental problems like climate change – higher density, integrated with public transport, improved water catchment and management. Green buildings offer economic and social benefits that typical buildings cannot – they provide better working environments and provide citizens with inspiration.

Mention other benefits from Hanson talk – reference in speech.

One or two way?

Best use of embodied energy when elements are reused.

Owner is a civil engineer, who was involved in the Big Dig in Boston, which involved dismantling an elevated expressway. He made use of over 600000 pounds of free materials that would otherwise have become construction waste: steel columns, beams and road decks. I used to eat food at the end of my Woolies shifts as a kid, but this is something else.

8-10% of emissions is based on a 40 year life span. Increasing the lifespan decreases the significance.

3.
Environmentally Sustainable Design <ul><li>The critical component of ESD is achieving resource efficiency </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Services </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Solar shading and building orientation </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Daylight penetration for improved internal environments </li></ul><ul><li>Water capture and reuse </li></ul><ul><li>Reducing material use - this is an area of building design which structural engineers can influence </li></ul>

4.
Structural Sustainability <ul><li>Building construction consumes: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>32% of global resources </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>12% of fresh water in OECD countries </li></ul></ul><ul><li>18% of Australian waste going to landfill is from construction and demolition </li></ul>Green Building Council of Australia and Australian Bureau of Statistics Figures

6.
Concrete and Emissions <ul><li>Concrete is one of the most widely used artificial products </li></ul><ul><li>5-8% of total greenhouse emissions come from cement production </li></ul><ul><li>Cement production accounts for around 90% of emissions associated with concrete </li></ul>

7.
Cement Production <ul><li>Cement is made by heating limestone to over 1300 o C </li></ul><ul><li>CaCO 3 ―› CaO + CO 2 </li></ul><ul><li>Around 0.9 tonnes of CO 2 produced for every tonne of cement </li></ul><ul><li>Around half is due to calcination process </li></ul>Zeobond 2008

9.
New Technologies to Reduce Volume <ul><li>Cement makes up around 11% of the volume of concrete </li></ul><ul><li>40-50% concrete reduction has equivalent load carrying capacity </li></ul><ul><li>59 Albany Highway: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>7 storey commercial building in Victoria Park </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Precast/bubbledeck system used </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>1138.6 tonnes of CO 2 saved </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Fairlanes </li></ul><ul><ul><li>27 storey mixed-use building in East Perth </li></ul></ul>Bubbledeck

10.
Steel & Timber <ul><li>Steel </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Most steel is scrapped and recycled at the end of an elements life </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Major disadvantage is embodied energy </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Timber </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Potential to be a truly renewable source of material </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Stores carbon </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Many options for reuse/recycling </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Attempt to source material from local, sustainable plantations (AFS or FSC) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Issues with Green Star – only FSC is recognised </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Both materials can be reused, unlike concrete </li></ul>

11.
Designing for Deconstruction <ul><li>5.85 million tonnes of C&D waste are sent to landfill each year </li></ul><ul><li>DfD facilitates material reuse by “non-destructive” demolition </li></ul><ul><li>Reusing elements is more efficient than recycling </li></ul><ul><li>Details of deconstruction procedure need to be incorporated into drawings, and a deconstruction plan </li></ul><ul><li>Masonry, timber, and steel all lend themselves to this approach </li></ul>

13.
Building Reuse <ul><li>Embodied energy accounts for 8-10% of building emissions </li></ul><ul><li>Building re-use is the simplest way to reduce embodied energy </li></ul><ul><li>Most efficient use of materials: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>No transport </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>No reprocessing </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Challenges include: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>C hanges of use </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Strengthening work </li></ul></ul>